.: Kath's Lil Kitchen Helper :.

One of the greatest inventions for those on the go but wants to come home to a warm home-cooked meal. Am I pleased to introduce you to La Gourmet 2.5L Thermal Wonder Cooker! (Sounds like I’m doing a commercial or something! hehe!)

I have been telling The Husband a couple of months back that we need to get ourselves a thermal cooker. It was difficult to explain the concept of thermal cooking to him and he conveniently thought that it’s the same as slow cooker (which is not!). And again, like most of the things I tell him, it falls unto deaf ears, and in the end, completely forgotten. Tsk,tsk,tsk….

But thank goodness for Moms! I told my mom the other day (only once, mind you, whereas I have repeatedly told The Husband for like umpteenth times!) of my need, and she happily sourced for me the best bargain price and in the end got one for me at only RM99! Yippiedeedoo! :)

Anyways, The Husband was still skeptical when he saw this thingamajiggy. He was very doubtful that something can be boiled in the fire for 10 mins and then left to cook in the thermal. Oh, man of little faith. I guess it’s up to me to proof him otherwise.

So I took half of a kampong chicken, throw in some dried scallop, dried mushroom, wolfberry (kei chi), dried longans & red dates (the latter two for sweetness) into the inner pot. Add salt to taste.

Bring the inner pot with water filled to about 80% of the pot to boil. It takes about 15 mins or so. Then lift the inner pot from the fire (be careful as the pot will be very very hot) and place it in the outer pot. Close the lid, and that’s it. Wait for 8 hours and the soup’s ready to be served. Mind you, it will still be delightfully warm! I on the other hand, took a step further to reboil the soup, at left it in the pot for another 8 hours. Hence, in total, 16 hours. I believe that it gives the soup much more flavour than just only the first step, but it’s all down to individual preference. Anyhows, the first step suffices for a good bowl of soup!

I am loving this! And so is The (skeptical) Husband who, like a typical chinaman, enjoys his warm bowl of tong (soup). I believe that one can use this to cook soup, stew, porridge and even tong sui. Eyeing a recipe on pandan tau fu fa, if only I can figure out what GDL is!

Only complain is that I wished my mom got us a bigger one. I know, I know, there’s just the two of us, why would I need a bigger one you would ask? I just love to cook in volumes; for own consumptions as well as for family & friends and tho 2.5L is good enough for the both of us, it is not enough for say 4 people or more. And oh ya, can it just not also come in more fashionable colour such as bright red or pink? Just sayin'.